Stuck in the future
by gallifreyan-halliwell
Summary: Piper and her sisters keep ending up in the past and one day she ends up standing in front of Christian. When she is brought back to the future Christian follows and ends up in their time. He has to stay and the sisters decide to do something for him. A bit weird but I couldn't shake the idea.


_**I don't know where the HELL this came from, WHY and HOW, but I couldn't get it out of my head and it probably barely makes any sense whatsoever. But hey, if anyone reads and likes this, then it's all fine, right? Anyway, this may take some explaining. So, imagine Christian somehow knew the Charmed Ones and also that they were witches. I KNOW THEY WERE IN COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TIMES BUT JUST GO WITH IT! It shall be explained! Ok? It's set after the end of season 8. That's all the explaining you get for now. If you're confused at the end too, then review or PM me, and I'll try and explain what went on in my head. So please enjoy, favourite and review. It should be a one-shot, so enjoy!**_

"What the hell? Not again!" Piper fumed, throwing her arms up and looking around. The sight of a very dishevelled yet surprised man with black hair caught her attention, as she went over in her head how she could explain just appearing out of nowhere. She expected a question, a rush of confusion, anything, but the man just stood there, seeming to have already gotten over the initial shock as he sat down again next to a typewriter.

"Um, where am I?" Piper asked, breaking the awkwardness in the room.

"Paris." He replied simply, not particularly wanting to engage in any sort of conversation.

"This is going to sound even stranger, but, _when _am I?" She asked hesitantly, and this seemed to capture his attention more as he sat up straight and gave her a look.

"1901. December." He answered slowly.

"Damn. This is the worst yet." Piper muttered.

"What?"

"Um, never mind." Piper said, waving her arms as if warning him not to press, which of course he did.

"You just appear in here, don't know where or _when_ you are. Who are you?" He questioned insistently.

"That's a really long story…" She started, but seeing his expectant glare she rolled her eyes and sighed, then continued. "I'm a witch, from the future, more specifically 2007 and I know you'll ask me to prove it but I can't because I won't have my powers because they don't work in the past so…"

"Whoa, whoa, hold it. Witch? 2007? That's impossible!" He stumbled, cutting off Piper's rant. Both adults breathed to calm themselves, and Piper continued.

"I told you I can't prove it, but I _did _just appear from no-where." The male thought about it and conceded. "Anyway, I'm Piper." She said, holding her arm out.

"Christian." He answered, shaking her hand.

* * *

"What happened this time?" Phoebe asked, pacing the attic. "She vanished again? What's that, the third time this month?"

"Why is it happening anyway?" Paige asked Leo, who sat holding a young Chris.

"I'm not sure. It may just be a month where magic is particularly active, or something keeps pulling you guys into the past." Phoebe huffed and sat next to him, choosing to fuss over Chris instead.

"I'll get her." Paige said, walking over to the book and finding the time travel spell while Leo gave Chris to Phoebe and drew the triquetra on the wall.

"Hear these words, hear the rhyme,

Heed the hope within my mind.

Send me back to where I'll find

What I wish in place and time."

As Paige finished chanting, the triquetra glowed and formed into a bright blue portal, while she braced herself and stepped through, thinking of Piper. As she stepped out of the portal she found herself standing in front of her oldest sister and an extremely shocked looking man. She herself covered her mouth in shock, realising that she may have just exposed the magical world in the past. Before Piper could reassure her she grabbed Piper's arm and pulled her through the portal before it closed again. Christian, seeing the bright blue portal and still unsure of how any of this was happening, ran after them without thinking and plunged through the portal as well.

"Oh my god!" Phoebe exclaimed when Christian ran through the portal. "You've really done it this time."

"It's not _my_ fault, we needed to get back through the portal before it closed and _someone_ didn't get away from other people in time." Paige moaned at Piper who helped Christian up, while Christian stood awkwardly, not sure what had happened.

"Are we in 2007?" He asked hesitantly.

"Well…" Phoebe looked at Piper, who rolled her eyes. "Wait, you told him about us?"

"Well he didn't exactly give me much choice!"

While the two sisters were arguing Paige looked up at the ceiling briefly then attempted to interrupt but without luck, so she orbed out after telling Leo. Eventually Christian managed to get a word in between the shouting.

"Can I get back?" Christian asked, as all eyes turned on him. "As in, to 1901?" Piper was about to answer by saying that they could use the time travel spell which Paige had used to get her back to get him to the right time, though it might be slightly off because time-travel was quite unpredictable, when Paige orbed back down in front of her.

"What is it? Where did you go? _When_ did you even leave?" Piper asked, as Paige rolled her eyes.

"Well I heard the elders call, I know before you say anything, what did they want and were they trying to manipulate us again but no; it's not entirely about us. It's about him." Paige finished, carrying on after Piper glared at the mention of the elders, and then pointing at Christian.

"Him? How do they know about him, I mean he's not even from this time?!" Phoebe exclaimed, rubbing her forehead in confusion.

"'Him' has a name…" Christian muttered, but Paige continued to explain.

"They said that he was meant to come to the future and that he can't return to the past." She held up her arm to halt Phoebe and Piper's objections. "They didn't explain why, as usual they were very cryptic, but they just said we can't return him. I'm sorry." Paige added to Christian, whose eyes were wide in bewilderment. However, after a few moments of contemplation he seemed to accept the situation.

"Ok."

"Well that was quick and kind of anticlimactic." Phoebe joked, Piper shoving her in the ribs.

"Why would you give up so easily? Surely you've got a home, family, something to go back to?" Piper asked, genuinely interested in his reasons.

"There's nothing there for me anymore." Christian said simply and cryptically. Since they clearly weren't going to get any straight answers from him Phoebe decided to try and use her empathy to see what he was feeling. As soon as she tried she gasped to try and control the wave of pain and sadness that came over her.

"Phoebe?" Paige asked.

"Can I talk to you guys for a second?" Phoebe asked her sisters through gritted teeth, as they obediently followed without question. They arrived in the hallway and Phoebe turned to them, a little of the pain now having subsided due to the distance between her and Christian.

"What's up?" Piper asked, concerned.

"Well, I used my empathy on Christian since I knew we wouldn't get any answers and I felt this wave of suffering, it was almost unbearable. I think his girlfriend died recently, it would explain why he wouldn't mind not going home." Phoebe explained, rubbing her temples as the pain subsided fully.

"That's awful…" Paige muttered, while Piper nodded in agreement.

"So it looks like he can't go back to his time, thanks to whatever reasons those damn elders have this time." Piper resigned herself to the fact.

"We'll have to get him to hang around here right? I mean a man from the past; he won't know what the hell is going on." Paige thought aloud, and Phoebe nodded.

"He can have one of our old rooms, if he doesn't try to run off or anything anyway." Phoebe agreed. "Since we don't live here anymore."

"Great, why is it always me who's stuck with the problems?" Piper complained. "Just because I live at the manor…"

"I'm sure you'll be fine, he doesn't seem like a troublemaker anyway. I mean, look at him, he's hardly said a word and anyone in their right mind who had just been transported to the future would have a _lot_ more questions." Paige pointed out, and Piper huffed.

"Fine." She said, turning aggressively and stomping up to the attic, followed by her sisters.

"Ok, so since you can't go back to the past, and you can't exactly go wondering around the modern world, my sisters and I decided that we think it's best if you stay here, at least for a while. You can have one of their old rooms since they don't live here anymore." Piper explained quickly, Christian narrowing his eyes slightly to keep up. He nodded slowly.

"Ok, I'll take you to a room. You can borrow some of Leo's clothes for now, right?" Phoebe looked towards Leo who shrugged then nodded and Phoebe almost dragged Christian out of the room.

She led him to Paige's old room as it wasn't as cold as her own had always been, and left him there for a second to grab some clothes. When she got back he was examining the TV in the corner of her room, looking quite confused. He turned around when he heard her footsteps as she handed him the clothes, which he put on the bed uncertainly.

"That's a TV." Phoebe began to explain, grabbing the remote and switching it on. "It was invented around 1925; it's kind of like a moving picture." She explained, while Christian gazed at it in wonder like a small child.

"I guess I have a lot to get used to in this time." Christian realised, his eyes widened at how much technology could advance in only just over a century. Even the small amount he'd seen in the house had been more than he could have ever imagined possible. Phoebe switched the TV off and sat down on the bed.

"So what do you do as a job?" She asked, trying to make an easier conversation.

"I write." He said.

"Really? I write too, but for a newspaper, not stories or anything like that. I'm an advice columnist, so I help people with love and relationships." Christian tensed up slightly at the mention of love. "Sorry…"

"It's fine."

"Anyway, I'll leave you to it. I imagine all this is quite tiring, not knowing what's going on or what will happen." He nodded and Phoebe left the room, closing the door gently.

* * *

The next few weeks were fairly uneventful, though it was quite interesting when they took Christian out somewhere for the first time. Everything was new to him, so the sisters kept having to stop and explain and often got strange looks from strangers. Phoebe and Paige often dropped by to help Piper and see how both she and Christian were doing. Once they had taken him to Piper's new restaurant, which he had actually seemed to enjoy. After a while they began to leave him to look after Wyatt and Chris when Billie or Piper and Leo couldn't stay, often during demon vanquishes, which Christian had become used to. The sisters had told Billie about Christian the day after he had arrived, and she had been sympathetic and also spent a lot of time helping him, as she felt it was like when Christy had been rescued, though she didn't expect Christian to turn evil seeing as he hadn't been trapped in a cave for years. He barely talked about Satine although he had opened up to Billie a little after she told him about her sister.

She sat down next to him in the conservatory when he was playing with Chris. For a while they didn't talk but Billie suddenly began to talk about Christy.

"My sister was trapped in a cave for years after she was captured by demons. When we got her back I was so happy, though I didn't notice that she didn't seem right. I know she'd been trapped but I didn't notice she seemed, almost evil." Billie spoke. Christian didn't interrupt, listening intently. "For a while everything seemed right but then she turned me against the sisters and we nearly killed them. Well, we did kill Paige and Phoebe but then Piper changed time and… It's quite confusing so I won't bother explaining." Billie looked confused at her own story but Christian smiled slightly. "In the end I had to vanquish her. I know it was for the best, but she's my sister. It just felt wrong."

"I imagine it's one of those situations where you have to choose the better of two bad things." Christian thought out loud, and Billie nodded. "When I moved to Paris all I wanted was to write. I didn't think I'd fall in love, but I did." Like he had, Billie listened without interrupting. "We were happy for a while, but she was sick, really sick. Then after a performance of the show I wrote, where she was the star, she died in my arms." He looked down after saying that, stopping the threatening tears. Billie wrapped an arm around him and they sat there for a while.

"It's similar, in a way," Billie started, and Christian looked at her. "I mean, we both lost people we love." He nodded slowly.

After the talk Billie told the sisters about it, who promised not to press him about it, but they tried to avoid the subject of relationships and love.

* * *

Weeks turned into months and still the elders hadn't told them why he had to stay in this time. By now, like Billie had, he was becoming like family, spending every day with them, and his life in 1901 Paris seemed a long way away. That was until one day, when Phoebe grabbed Paige and Piper to talk to them.

"Ok, so I think I have an idea to help Christian." She said, while they sat in the kitchen.

"Why does he need help?" Paige asked.

"Well, because even though he seems happier, we all know that he's miserable because Satine died before they really got a life together." Phoebe said like it was obvious. Piper and Paige mouthed an 'oh'.

"And why exactly is that our problem to fix? I don't think it _can _be fixed, you can't just mend a broken heart." Piper pointed out.

"Well, it might not work but it's worth a try. We're witches, we can summon the dead." Piper and Paige raised an eyebrow at the middle sister. "Oh come on, it could work! If they get a proper goodbye then maybe Christian would have some proper closure, and be able to move on with his life."

"I guess it kind of makes sense…" Paige admitted.

"Thank you! Piper?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't think it's a good idea." The others frowned at her. "But I guess I'm outnumbered, so it looks like it's going to happen anyway."

"Great!" Phoebe said. "Let's get going."

"I'll get Christian if you like. It would be faster if I did it." Paige pointed out, and Phoebe nodded so Paige orbed out to find him.

Phoebe bounded enthusiastically up the stairs to the attic with a slightly less passionate Piper stepping behind. The younger sister reached the attic and strode over to the book, opening it to the summoning spell while Piper lit five candles and placed them in a circle. She then walked over to Phoebe and together they chanted the words.

"Hear these words, hear my cry,

Sprit from the other side,

Come to me I summon thee,

Cross now the Great Divide."

"I hope this works; I mean it's not often that we summon a ghost that we don't know." Piper commented, while Phoebe looked determinedly at the white lights that were swirling around inside the candle circle. Suddenly a beautiful figure formed, looking around quite confused before fixing her eyes on the two sisters before her. Almost curiously, she stepped out of the circle and turned from a tinge to fully coloured, just as Paige orbed in with Christian. Piper and Phoebe walked over to where they stood, facing the other way.

"If this is about when I forgot to take Wyatt and Chris, I'm sorry." Christian said, still not realising while the woman behind peered round.

"It's not, just, turn around." Piper said hesitantly, as he turned and his eyes widened. He let out a small gasp as Satine smiled sweetly at him.

"Are you… real?" He said cautiously, not wanting to let himself believe it incase it wasn't. She nodded and he immediately rushed over to her as they embraced tightly, kissing. Phoebe and Paige grinned at each other.

"Told you." Phoebe whispered to Piper, who elbowed her as the three left the room.

"I missed you so much." Christian murmured, tears filling his eyes and enjoying being in Satine's arms again. She smiled sadly at him before answering.

"I know, but you know I can't stay for long. I'm still dead, your friends just summoned my spirit." She pointed out, but still not letting go of him.

"I know…" He sighed. They went to sit on the small sofa and sat in silence for a while, neither wanting the moment to end.

"I'm sorry I died." Satine said suddenly, looking up at him. Christian remained silent for a moment.

"I know we couldn't stop it. But I just don't understand why. Why did it have to be you? Why then? Why _ever_?" Christian stammered.

"I don't know. But I've watched you, even after that little time jump you did," Satine paused, smiling. "And I've heard the sisters saying many times that everything happens for a reason. So there must be one, but I guess we'll never know."

"Yeah, who knew all this supernatural stuff could be real?" Christian thought out loud. "Personally I never thought it was real."

"Really? I thought it could be, I mean when so many people have had stories and legends about something, it's hard to come up with a reason why everyone would believe something if it wasn't real." Satine pointed out.

Again they sat in silence for a long time. Phoebe, Paige and Piper hadn't come back to check on them yet, so eventually Satine began to sing in her soft elegant voice, Christian joining in quietly. He hadn't sung since the day Satine had died.

"Come what may,

Come what may,

I will love you until my dying day." They finished, and Satine laughed slightly.

"That's quite funny, I'm already dead." She said.

"True."

At that moment Phoebe, Paige and Piper walked in looking slightly apologetic.

"We're sorry, but it's quite late. Spirits can't always stay on our plane for long periods of time." Phoebe apologised sincerely.

"That's ok, I understand. And thank you." Satine replied, standing up. Christian stood up too and faced Satine.

"I love you." They both said to each other, and then Satine faded into nothingness, her loving eyes remaining on Christian until the last second. His head dropped slightly, but he seemed less overcome with grief than he ever had before.

"Thank you for doing that for me, it really helped." Christian admitted, smiling at the sisters, who smiled back.

"No problem." Paige said.

"It was my idea." Phoebe added, and Piper elbowed her again, the others smirking at the middle sister.

"I know it doesn't bring her back, but I'm glad it helped you." Piper said truthfully.

* * *

After the summoning Christian seemed a lot happier and appeared to be beginning to move on slowly. The wounds that had been open for so long were finally healing, and he began to get more involved with the demon hunts and such where he could. By then he had certainly become a part of the family, and continued to live in the manor. Chris and Wyatt began to refer to him as 'uncle' Christian just like they sometimes called Billie 'aunt'. And the whole time Satine watched from above, especially after having met another spirit who would watch them.

"They're really special, you're sisters. I'm so glad they would take him in and that he would become part of the family." Satine said.

"I know. They would look after anyone who was an innocent, and I'd say Christian was one." Prue replied. Both were sitting on a bench in the clouds, watching them all play with the children happily, not knowing that the two spirits were above them, observing contentedly.

_**Ok I know that was… unusual but I hope anyone who read it enjoyed it. Please review and let me know, like I said it was just something in my head. Thanks for reading!**_


End file.
